i wasn't born in a barn, but i got there as fast as i could.

See, all the movies make wedding planning look like an endless series of brunch meetings with your mom and maid of honor laughing prettily as you effortlessly agree on everything.

Expectation

But like for realz we all work which means that we can really only do stuff on the weekend, and THERE’S NO TIME FOR BRUNCH WE HAVE 18 DECISIONS TO MAKE IMMEDIATELY and yes I understand that person wants a plus one but it ain’t happening so stop asking and why did four separate people straight up not provide their apartment number and no I don’t want a human gargoyle outside the doors and why was that even on the list for consideration??

Reality

Don’t get me wrong, wedding planning is a lot of fun. Every vendor we’ve chosen has turned out to be a Total Bro about everything we throw at them, and our coordinator is the most delightfully enthusiastic man. We love him. My maid of honor and I have actually done some lovely brunches, and my mom could legitimately start a career as a wedding planner- she’s amazing at all of this. It’s going to be the most rad party in the history of rad parties.

BUT WHY WERE HUMAN GARGOYLES A THING I HAD TO EVEN THINK ABOUT???

I literally had to explicitly say no to this. It was not assumed. WHAT EVEN.

Anyways, as we’re getting closer to the wedding, planning is really ramping up which means that my time and energy is ever-more devoted to that.

Ergo, my time and energy is not at the barn as much as I’d like.

Frankie is entirely on board with this. He is reverting to DadBod Francis, which apparently is his natural state if he’s not in a 6 day a week program. I swear, total fat kid at heart. He may be half TB, but he definitely takes after the WB side in the hard-to-keep-fit sense. I can definitely feel his hind end losing some power- nothing crazy, but he was SUPER powerful off his hind end earlier in the summer and he lost that explosiveness practically overnight. 100% chunkaroo.

A very thirsty chunkaroo.

Luckily, I’m not asking him to do anything that requires him to be in peak shape. I’ve done a few lessons where we do simple courses with jumps that stay below 3’3″-3’6″ish, and we toodle. I have the barn juniors hop on fairly regularly, and I still have AT do one ride a week on him to make sure he still gets a steady reminder on How To Horse Properly. One of the (many many) reasons I am so grateful for this horse is that he has handled it all without blinking- he went from full show training to practically a pasture pet overnight, and he just kinda rolls with it.

He’s actually going on a fun adventure with one of the barn girls this week- he’ll be making his hunter debut! She’s doing a week-long lease to take him in the 3′ Children’s Hunters down at Lexington National. It’s going to be adorable! He’s super NOT a hunter, but he’s steady and safe and willing. She’s an absolutely lovely rider with impeccable horsemanship, so I think this will be a fun outing for both of them. Gotta love that Frankenbean- in the course of two months, he will have competed in the 1.20m jumpers, the WT pleasure, and the 3′ Children’s Hunters. Atta boy, go Do All The Things!

I originally had big plans for late summer/early fall- namely, a move-up to the 1.20m with the Beast. But realistically, I just don’t have the time, energy, or quite frankly the funds to support the training program needed to be strong enough at that height. It was disappointing to look at the schedule and realize that I’d have to shift my expectations, but that’s life!

Luckily I have a healthy and sound horse, so there’s no reason we shouldn’t be able to give it a go next year, when I have a new name and no wedding to plan. I think I would take it harder if I had a different horse, but it’s hard to feel bad about pretty much anything when I ride Frankie. Whatever our adventures end up being, and whatever the timing is, we’re going to have fun.

Coming up on December 1! Less than four months away, we’re in planning overdrive. I’m ready to just do the darn thing hahaha. It was such a win-win-win for Frankie to go to the show, happy that the timing worked out!

GIRL I know what you mean about wedding planning – however my mother never suggested human gargoyles. That just kills me! So funny! It’s incredible how much time it takes up. After the wedding, we got home from our honeymoon and I was like, “what do I do with all this time I now have because I’m no longer spending hours per day and all my brainpower on planning the wedding?!” But it’s fun and a pretty cool time of life, so I’m glad you’re (mostly) enjoying it! 🙂

WTF with the human gargoyle?! That’s a THING? In Rhode Island?
I’m so excited to hear how Frankie enjoy the children’s hunters. That’s going to be ADORABLE!
It’s totally a bummer to have to change your plans for a move up, but there’s always next year. I think it’s smart to wait until your heads 100% in the game so you have a positive experience.

I know, right?! There’s a whole company that provides living statues for events.
You totally hit the nail on the head- in addition to the physical aspect, I want to be able to focus my mental energy completely, which is definitely tough right now!

Ugh, gotta love last minute ridiculous guest list requests. Stay strong.. I gave in to some last year and while it didn’t actually hurt anything, I wish I hadn’t for various reasons! I’m sure Frankie will be ready and waiting for you when you’re ready to ramp things back up!

I was speechless too- which apparently gave the impression that I was entirely on board. I kid you not, it took me 3 months to finally convince everyone involved that we were absolutely not having them. THREE MONTHS.